Microsoft Treasure Hunt strategy guide

The Guide is not a tutorial on the game, or a walk-through of the levels except for one sample. (For a walk-through, or details on achievements, try here.) To learn how to play, install the game and view the tutorial. This article assumes you already know how to play, but want to play better.

The guide is being updated as new strategies are developed. I have so far reached Level 275 and I have completed all of the Awards. FYI, nothing special happens when you gain the 20th and final award.

Unlike typical logic games, there is no “solution” to Microsoft Treasure Hunt. You are presented with scenarios where it is impossible to reason out there the traps are. The board as presented is ambiguous. You have to use one of the tools provided, maps, picks and dynamite to move forward, or you can guess.

I have tried to present easy-to-apply rules to discover the traps and safe spots. There are some situations where I have not discovered a simple solution, ones where I have to resort to brute force examination of all the possible combinations, something tedious and error prone. I’m still looking for a breakthrough in those cases.